Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Monologue Mania Day # 701 The Bullet Proof by Janet S. Tiger Jan. 13, 2016

Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free* monologue a day- for a whole year-and still going!
                                                                    first year -  Feb. 13, 2014 - Feb. 13, 2015
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Monologue Mania Day # 701 The Bullet Proof by Janet S. Tiger Jan. 13, 2016

                                The Bullet Proof
                                 ©Janet S. Tiger all rights reserved Jan. 13, 2016
                                                  tigerteam1@gmail.com

             (A well-dressed black woman in her sixties comes onstage and nods to the audience, looks to the side)

Thank you for that nice introduction, and for this very special award.

             (She holds up a plaque)

I want to take this moment, to add to my list of mathematical accomplishments a new proof that will help explain a lot about me.

It has to do with .......bullets.  Each bullet shot is like one decision......one decision that can change everything......

            (She holds up her hand, showing she has a bullet in it)

Of course, bullets do not really need a proof......they prove your point.

A bullet is the final proof....the bullet proof.  One bullet....one decision......

My father left when I was baby.  My mother's family was in another state, and they had never approved of my dad, so, we couldn't move back and stay with them.  So my mother worked as a maid, which was not a high-paying job and we lived in a neighborhood where the bullets and the shooting were just a part of life.

You grew up tough.  Bullet proof.  

You heard the shots, and you dropped.  My mother had a game...she'd shout 'Drop!' and we'd drop to the floor.....and then we'd laugh...until I got old enough to know we were dropping so the bullets wouldn't hit us through the walls.  Because the newer guns ....they just cut through the plasterboard like it was butter......

I was an only child, but it was still tough for her.....she traveled almost an hour each way on the bus to get to work.....and I had to stay inside so nothing could get me......but then one day......we were eating dinner.....and the shots were close.....out of habit, my mother yelled, 'Drop!' and we dropped ........it sounded like hail on the roof it was so loud, so nearby.....

But it was over fast, like a cloudburst, and I stood up....then I looked at my mother.....she was staring at me, and the look on her face....well, I've never forgotten it.....then I felt something dripping......I'd been shot.....and the blood was coming down my arm, and I was so scared I hadn't even felt it.....but now I did.....

The next hours were a blur, but they are in my memory forever.

She took me to the clinic and the police talked to me while the doctor put on a bandage.  I'd been lucky, the bullet just knicked me, nothing horrible.......but when we went to go onto the bus, we took one going in the wrong direction.  I tried to stop her, but they'd given me something for the pain, and words came out funny.  She turned to me and said, 'Baby, I made a decision, and you just have to go along now and have a little faith...'


We rode for an hour, until we got out and walked up to a house.......where my mother worked.  She rang the bell and the lady who answered was Mrs. Feinberg, my mother's boss.  My mother told her what happened, and that we were never going back, could we stay there for a few days until my mother figured out what to do......Mrs. Feinberg was crying.  Turns out, her family had had to run from bullets in Nazi Europe, so she gave us one of her son's rooms - they had both gone to college, and she told us we could stay as long as we wanted.

And we did, and my life changed.  I went to a nice school, where the kids didn't laugh at me if I got an A in Math.  And I was in the school play, and I got to do all kinds of things I never did before.

We never did go back to that apartment.  My mother paid her friends to empty it out.  

She said it was worth the money, and Mrs. Feinberg helped while  I went to college.  And my mother took care of her when she got older, and couldn't remember things so well.  One decision, one bullet....Every bullet is a decision....and I am the living proof. 

Everyone gets a moment in their lives.....sometimes more than one, but usually it's just one.....so, bite that bullet, make that choice.   Thank you.

               (She lifts the plaque, turns to leave, stops, looks back)

One decision.....One bullet....

The bullet proof.

               (She exits....proof a bullet cannot stop humanity) 



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Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315
JanetSTigerMonologueMania.blogspot.com
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8

* Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty info.
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